I must say that at the time I thought he was 100% guilty, and I was pretty disgusted. But these photos, Graham's claim of innocence, and the fact that he has never done anything remotely of this nature before have given me some doubts.

It's not impossible that Slater, having felt an injury to his ear, remembered Graham's big gob right next to it, and firmly believes that Graham bit him, without it actually being the case. It's also possible that Graham lost the plot so completely that he did bite Slater, but genuinely has no recollection of doing it.

I'd guess we'll never be able to find out what happened, and this will remain as a cloud over Graham for a fair while. He just needs to get his head down, and show the ability and character that we know he has over the next couple of seasons, and it will all be forgotten.

So did I (watch the match) and if you are surprised at some of the hysterical comments by some on here, then maybe you have not been paying due dilligence to each and every er, head high, bit of thuggery or any other item of adjudged dirty play by the holier than thou brigade.

I do think that Graham probably did connect his gnashers with Slaters ears, it certainly looked that he was intending to do so, but I have never seen anything of a dirty nature from him previously no matter which side he faced or how high the stakes were.

Someone say's that maybe what prompted this was what Slater did to Graham, well I cannot make any comment upon that but I am amazed that everyone seems to exhonerating Billie from anything in that incident.

Why did Perrit lunge at him with his foot, after he had scored? Slater had gone into that tackle uneccasarily heavily and Perrit obviously thought so by the reaction he made.When Inu then pushed him, he was also somewhat incensed at the tackle, plus Slaters aggressiveness towards Perrit, why?

In my opinion Billie Slater was the instigator of the incidents that followed because he was plainly irritated by his own inability to beat Perrit to a ball which it seemed he had covered.

I would agree that Graham, if he has committed the said offence, fully deserves the punishment meted out, but to totally exempt Slater from all blame is being a bit silly. That what followed did, was a mystery and I could not understand how Graham even became involved in the first place as he seemed to be taking little interest in what was going on. So there must have been something that incensed him to do what is alledged, what that was I would be most interested to be informed of.

A frankly bizarre analysis.

Slater comes across to make a last ditch tackle like any good FB would. As others have mentioned, his knees threaten to show at one point but he withdraws them and it's a clean challenge. Neither Perrit nor Inu looked to take particular umbrage with the tackle for me - both merely wanted to give Slater a bit of an unnecessary cocky glare and "F you" swagger. Their facial expressions are very telling - very childish. I was disappointed with this even before the "shimozzle", especially with Inu as he'd had such a good game to that point. "Grow up, get on with the game" etc. Inu's shove was then completely out of order and should have earned him 10 in the bin when the fuss died down. Slater rightly took umbrage at said shove but was outnumbered and rough-housed by Dogs when trying to square up to Inu. He could barely even get to his feet and looked like a bullied little lad throughout the whole episode. He also ALWAYS gets this kind of treatment from opponents. It's the ultimate mark of respect, I suppose, and he's a a class act in dealing with it. The NSW lads, for example, can never resist giving him a facial when they complete a tackle on him.

Then enter James Graham and the ultimate vile cowardly act that will presumably earn him some massive retribution smashes (and not just from the Storm bigs) next year. You reap what you sow.

As for "So there must have been something that incensed him to do what is alleged", pure speculation. There's a mass of bodies and it's an all-out brawl by that point. Graham presumably just wanted to come out on top by whatever means, no more, no less. Over to you though if you have more....

The Slater tackle on the Canterbury scorer, whilst not spectacularly bad, was not the whiter than white event you are painting here. The Canterbury players threw him into the hoardings with some force, so they clearly saw something in it.

The Slater tackle on the Canterbury scorer, whilst not spectacularly bad, was not the whiter than white event you are painting here. The Canterbury players threw him into the hoardings with some force, so they clearly saw something in it.

I’m sorry but that doesn’t follow. Slater was thrown into the hoardings, sure, but how does this “prove” that he made a bad tackle? He’s Billy Slater, arguably the best player the game has ever seen. Teams will obviously target him. The Dogs simply saw a chance to give him some unjust rough treatment and took it. Ironically, it was the worst thing they could have done as it just angered the Storm and stalled their own momentum.

Look at the tackle. Look also at Perrit and Inu’s faces. Not the angry, indignant faces of those who feel an injustice has taken place but rather the sneering, petulant, pathetic faces of little boys going “Na na na na na, we just scored against you – here, have a bit of this as well”. It was ugly juvenile stuff.

But if you look at Slater’s tackle and see something dangerous, fine. We’ll have to agree to disagree. But you’re probably stating that an FB can’t make any kind of contact with a scoring outside back, aren’t you?

Not taking sides but Inu was a mug with his behaviour in the GF, he admitted as much himself after the game.
I used to be a fan of his before he got a million chances to be consistent but I was hoping he got clattered in a tackle.

But if you look at Slater’s tackle and see something dangerous, fine. We’ll have to agree to disagree. But you’re probably stating that an FB can’t make any kind of contact with a scoring outside back, aren’t you?

I never said there was anything in Slaters' tackle, it looked fairly straightforward but then, I wasn't involved; which you weren't in the biting incident, yet seem convinced that it happened as you say.

All I'm saying is that every time someone scores a try, the tryscorers team mates don't throw the defenders into the advertising hoardings, there must have been something they saw -and it wasn't na na na we've just scored either.

Slater comes across to make a last ditch tackle like any good FB would. As others have mentioned, his knees threaten to show at one point but he withdraws them and it's a clean challenge. Neither Perrit nor Inu looked to take particular umbrage with the tackle for me - both merely wanted to give Slater a bit of an unnecessary cocky glare and "F you" swagger. Their facial expressions are very telling - very childish. I was disappointed with this even before the "shimozzle", especially with Inu as he'd had such a good game to that point. "Grow up, get on with the game" etc. Inu's shove was then completely out of order and should have earned him 10 in the bin when the fuss died down. Slater rightly took umbrage at said shove but was outnumbered and rough-housed by Dogs when trying to square up to Inu. He could barely even get to his feet and looked like a bullied little lad throughout the whole episode. He also ALWAYS gets this kind of treatment from opponents. It's the ultimate mark of respect, I suppose, and he's a a class act in dealing with it. The NSW lads, for example, can never resist giving him a facial when they complete a tackle on him.

Then enter James Graham and the ultimate vile cowardly act that will presumably earn him some massive retribution smashes (and not just from the Storm bigs) next year. You reap what you sow.

I agree with everything you say - except for the last paragraph.

I believe Graham when he says that he didn't bite Slater. This, in turn, doesn't mean that Slater's lying - he might well have thought in the heat of the moment that he had been bitten - but merely that he's mistaken.

What upsets me about this incident is the arrogant assertion by so many Australian journalists that this Englishman is not only guilty of biting, but is also a stupid liar for challenging the allegation in the first place. It seems to have come far too easily for far too many journalists sitting on the sidelines to write off Graham as a trustworthy, decent human being... when they themselves ought really to be looking in the mirror. The way even rugby league journalists in Australia - let alone those from other sports - portray NRL players is thoroughly depressing. Maybe they ought to learn that most of us in this country see the average British rugby league player in a more positive light?

Graham was wrong to get involved in the first place but, regardless of whether the footage "doesn't look good," I happen t believe in his innocence.

Rugby League is a very high profile sport in Australia, many players are treated like Royalty, I do not get what you mean about how the media treats NRL players?
Does the media in Oz treat NRL players any worse than the English media treat Football players in the UK?
The English players get little National coverage at all in the UK media so how is there a comparison.

I admit to bias. Firstly, I don't like Slater or his attitude. I do like Graham. I think he's been a credit to the game -always trying never dirty. I've never seen him commit a foul. I don't know whether he did this or not, but I reckon there's a bit of Pommie bashing in the verdict and the sentence, as there always is when a Pom is involved in anything like this. I recall the 1988 Lang Park test when Gregory was sent off for a high tackle. The Aussie media had been on a hysterical campaign of dirty Poms all the tour and Greg was the whipping boy.
However, I recall on the 1992 tour Paul Harrogan ended Ian Lucas's career with a punch to the head. Outcome for Harrogan - zilch.
The Aussies don't know any other way!

Edited by Trojan, 06 October 2012 - 09:52 AM.

"This is a very wealthy country, money is no object" D. Cameron February 2014

I admit to bias. Firstly, I don't like Slater or his attitude. I do like Graham. I think he's been a credit to the game -always trying never dirty. I've never seen him commit a foul. I don't know whether he did this or not, but I reckon there's a bit of Pommie bashing in the verdict and the sentence, as there always is when a Pom is involved in anything like this. I recall the 1988 Lang Park test when Gregory was sent off for a high tackle. The Aussie media had been on a hysterical campaign of dirty Poms all the tour and Greg was the whipping boy.However, I recall on the 1992 tour Paul Harrogan ended Ian Lucas's career with a punch to the head. Outcome for Harrogan - zilch.The Aussies don't know any other way!